How Much Would You Pay? A Coupon User’s Quick Shopping Trip

Take a look at the photo above and think about how much you would spend on those 10 items at your regular grocery store.  Now think about how much you would spend on those items at Walmart and Target.  You are probably thinking that you would spend between $12 to $20 for all ten items.

My goal is to donate ten items to the food bank per month, so I went to Publix this week and purchased those 10 items.  My total cost for ALL TEN ITEMS was $1.31.  Yes, I typed one dollar and thirty-one cents.  There is not a typo over there.  Coupons ARE great, and combining coupons with sales yields ultimate savings.

Each of the ten items above were on Buy One Get One free sale at Publix.  In my neck of the woods BOGO items ring up at half price rather than full price for the first and $0.00 for the second.  Knowing my store’s policy allows me to purchase in odd numbers if I desire rather than all even quantities.  There are times when half price BOGO is better than true BOGO and vice versa.  My grocery stores also double coupons 50¢ and under.  Publix accepts store coupons and manufacturer coupons to be stacked on the same item.  Again, knowing my stores policies is very beneficial when shopping.

How did the transaction break down?  MQ = Manufacturer’s Coupon (all were found in Sunday inserts), PQ = Publix Coupon (from the Yellow Advantage flier)
(Sorry for the funkiness of the “chart.”  I cannot get it to line up properly.)

Item                                      Coupons                                                          Final Price
$0.69 Rotel                          25¢/1 MQ doubled to 50¢                             $0.19
$0.70 Rotel                          25¢/1 MQ doubled to 50¢                             $0.19
$0.69 Rotel                          25¢/1  MQ doubled to 50¢, 75¢/3 PQ       -$0.56
$1.30 Krusteaz                    50¢/1 MQ doubled to $1.00                        $0.30
$1.29 Krusteaz                    50¢/1 MQ doubled to $1.00                         $0.30
$1.30 Krusteaz                    50¢/1 MQ doubled to $1.00                        $0.30
$0.65 Knorr                         50¢/2 MQ doubled to $1.00                        $0.15
$0.64 Knorr                                                                                                      $0.15
$0.65 Knorr                         50¢/2 MQ doubled to $1.00                        $0.15
$0.64 Knorr                                                                                                      $0.15
——————————————————————————————————————————————–
$8.56 subtotal                    $7.25 in coupons                                             $1.31 out of pocket!

To take this transaction just a little further, since everything was already half priced if I had walked in to Publix and purchased this same transaction without any sale prices I would have paid $17.12.  The coupons would have been the same, so I would have spent $9.87 on these items at regular price.  Using coupons on these items at regular price would have saved me 42 percent.  However, using the same coupons paired with a fantastic sale, I saved 92 percent on my order.  The couponer’s goal is always SALE plus COUPON!  The couponer’s ultimate dream is sale plus manufacturer’s coupon plus store coupon.  Can see you why?

Using coupons is easy.  Think of coupons as cash.  Since we use the cash system now I definitely see coupons as cash.  The more coupons I use the less cash I fork over to the cashier.  It barely makes a dent in my budget when I pay $1.31 for ten items to take to the food bank!

To the newbie couponers or those who are scared to do a transaction like this – leave us a comment with your fears, questions, or concerns and we will help in any way we can.

Add more cash to your wallet – use coupons!